Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Wait.. why?

Bob Ellis's pro-Airbnb astroturf group held a community meeting to discuss their advocacy of legalized short-term rentals in New Orleans. This was weird.

Rather than keeping unlicensed, short-term rentals illegal through an
outdated rule, the city should embrace a new law that legalizes the
practice and generates revenue and accountability through licenses and
enforcement.

That was the argument presented Tuesday night by the Alliance for
Neighborhood Prosperity, a nonprofit formed to advocate for legalizing
short-term rentals from websites such as Airbnb and VRBO in the city.

"There's obviously demand," Christian Galvin, a a group board member,
told about 50 people gathered at the Jefferson Parish Library in
Harvey. "There's thousands of these types of rentals online...it just
needs to be regulated so that the good operators rise up and give a
strong representation for New Orleans."

What were they doing in Harvey? Priced out of the New Orleans meeting room rental market for some reason?